DJ Shimza caused a stir within the SA Hip-Hop community when he made his take on the state of the genre in 2021.
DJ Shimza talks Hip-Hop with Cosmo
The controversial businessman was on an Instagram Live chat with fellow DJ and host of the popular POPcast show Cosmo, talking all things Hip-Hop.
Things quickly went awry when the Ekurhuleni producer stated categorically that SA Hip-Hop is dead.
“You guys need to do something, honestly, With the state of Hip-Hop in the country,” he told DJ Cosmo, who hosts a popular Sunday drive show on 5FM.
Cosmo tried to challenge Shimza’s perspective, claiming that the recent drop in the genre’s popularity was just a phase.
The Hang Awt founder disagreed wholly. In fact, Shimza believes that Hip-Hop in SA is so dire, that it’s ranked at the bottom in comparison to other genres.
If we are to look at what the streaming numbers say, as hurtful as his words may be to some who’ve put a valiant effort in resuscitating the genre, Shimza does have a strong argument.
For instance, the newly introduced SA music chart, overseen by the Record Industry of South Africa, provides a weekly Top 100 local chart of the most streamed singles in Mzansi.
Only eight spots are reserved to SA Hip-Hop on the local Top 100 ranking, of which Blxckie dominates with four listings, followed by Nasty C who has two.
Shimza’s bookable SA Hip-Hop acts
Shimza made it clear that his support for the genre has never wavered. Speaking from a business perspective, the producer stated that the only bookable acts in South Africa right now with a profitable crowd pull are AKA and Blxckie.
Cosmo was taken aback by this but Shimza doubled down. Here is the clip of the interaction that’s gone viral:
DJ Shimza says Hip-Hop is dead in South Africa.
— Musa Khawula (@khawula_musa) September 8, 2021
He hints that there's no other hip-hop artist to book other than AKA and Blxckie pic.twitter.com/xwizk3CWHo